Fairwind Stables Blog

Midsouth Team Challenge

October 26, 2009 on 3:21 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

Last weekend, Podge and I returned to eventing after a year hiatus. I loaded up in Dayton with all my normal eventing gear and just as much baby gear as 6-week-old Claire was making her debut on the eventing scene (although a bit young yet to be riding!) Podge and I were on a team with Brooke Lundberg and her mare, Sierra’s Sexy Model, and Taylor Reynolds with Paloma Bella. We were disappointed to have lost Jayne Whitton due to Sadie’s absess the week before the event but Jayne was kind enough to drive down and support the team. My boy was feeling like quite the stud with our team name, “Podge and the Girls”!
The weather was cold and windy all weekend and Podge was definitely feeling frisky before the dressage. For a horse that is usually pretty sedate, I was shocked that he was still very much on the muscle after 30-40 of warmup. I thought the judge was very generous giving us a score in the low 40s! He was still feeling pretty fresh going into stadium that afternoon but was focused on the jumps and we ended up w/ a double clear round. He was great, albeit a bit strong, on XC Sunday morning and we ended up in 9th place.
Taylor and Brooke also finished on their dressage scores and our team ended up in 18th. It was great to see what a great job Taylor has been doing with Paloma in the nearly 4 years since she bought her from me.
I owe a great debt of gratitude to my parents who helped babysit in the weeks leading up to the event as well as at the event. There is no way I would have been able to prepare and compete without them.